Peculiar Olympic tributes abound in the games' aftermath, from a knitted Boris Johnson on a zipwire to a newborn donkey at Chatsworth House farm which has been named after Jessica Ennis.

This seems an unusual accolade for someone who could lap a donkey any day of the week, several times; but there may be more to come because another of the farm's grown-up animals, Willow, is due to give birth herself later this week.

Meanwhile, what of this creation in Lego – an art form in which the Guardian has been indulging in its brick-by-brick marathon? Here's Jessica again as a little yellow person with an indomitable, Small, small World smile. (Beware this link: the tune will haunt you for days).

Minifigs, as they are known, might seem to be a rather frustrating form of portraiture as Lego people all look the same essentially, like small and more innocent versions of the Simpsons. But that isn't how Caroline Parkin-Savage of Sheffield University's centre for developmental and biomedical genetics sees it. She's consumed by mini-fig passion.

Jessic Lego, version one

Her first go at Ennis is in this small picture. The main one at the top shows the modified, final one – 'modified' is appropriate if scary with the artist working in biomedical genetics. You can spend quite a long time happily checking out the differences: the more dramatically tilted eyebrows; the somewhat madder teeth. is this what awaits our grandchildren?

Parkin-Savage, a postdoctoral research associate at the uni, has done a whole parade of Olympian as you can see on her website and Facebook page, but Ennis has a special place as an alumna of Sheffield University herself – class of 2007 with a psychology BA.. Parkin-Savage says:

Since the opening ceremony I have become obsessed with the Olympics so I decided to make some Olympic minifigs including models of Jessica Ennis, Andy Murray, Sir Chris Hoy and Greg Rutherford to celebrate the spectacular success of Team GB.

Everyone is so proud of Jessica here at the university and it is truly amazing what she has achieved. It is great to know she is a former student of the place where I now work.

Parker-Savage was lured back into a youthful interest in Lego by a nephew a year ago and now has 100,000 of the little bricks. Meanwhile in Leeds, suburban warfare still smoulders over the golden pillar box in honour of the triathlon winner Alistair Brownlee.

There's a nicer one in Rawdon. Photograph: Alamy

As Northerner reader Scargutt explained in the thread to this previous post, Bramhope where Alistair and his brother Jonny live, is resentful that the golden box is in Horsforth where the boys grew up and their parents remain. Dewsbury, in whose hospital Alistair was born, also has an interest although must be considered an outsider.

When Peter Moran, 82, took the matter in his own hands and painted Bramhope's dinky box gold, Royal Mail rapidly came round and turned it red again. The Rawdon postmaster and I (MW) were discussing this only this morning and are planning a generous compromise. Rawdon is halfway between Bramhope and Horsforth and has a nicer, old-fashioned, pillar box than either of them (the golden one in New Road Side is a modern pillar while Bramhope's is mounted on a wooden pole).